Business: There was a mixed reaction from business organisations to the decision to set limits on Romanian and Bulgarian access to the Irish labour market.
Chambers Ireland has expressed disappointment that workers from Bulgaria and Romania will not have free access to the Irish labour market when the two countries become full EU members in January, but said it was a necessary measure to preserve the common travel area between Ireland and the UK.
"We believe there is no reason why Ireland would not have benefited from the Bulgarian and Romanian accession as it did from the 2004 EU enlargement which helped to fill the gaps in our labour market - particularly our skilled labour shortage," said Chambers Ireland director of policy Seán Murphy
"However, the reality is that Ireland has to maintain the common travel area with the UK, and once the British government made its decision regarding the access levels for citizens of Romania and Bulgaria the die was cast."
Ibec said that while it understood the decision to put in place a work permit regime for citizens from Bulgaria and Romania, it regretted that the proposals would not give preference to these new EU citizens over non-European Economic Area nationals in a more definitive manner.
Ibec had recommended that Ireland should allow Bulgarian and Romanian citizens to be granted work permits on foot of a job offer without having to go through the "labour market test", which is part of the current Government proposal.
Ibec director general Turlough O'Sullivan said: "Restrictions on full access for Romanian and Bulgarian workers to the labour market should be limited in time and scope. The transitional measures being put in place should also give preference to these workers over individuals from third countries.
"While it is necessary to put in place a system that enables the effective ongoing monitoring of the situation, the aim right across Europe must be to press ahead with the necessary adjustments to allow full, free movement at the earliest opportunity."
However, Isme, which represents small and medium-sized enterprises, welcomed the Minister's decision."We have urged caution in the past," said Isme chief executive Mark Fielding. "We felt there wasn't a need for more immigrants to come into the country."
A spokesman for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions said the restrictions should also apply to self-employed workers from Romania and Bulgaria. Otherwise it could exacerbate the problem of bogus self-employment among immigrant workers, which was a feature of the building industry, he said.